Monday 10 October 2016 11:53, UK
Women's Sport Week is in full swing, and Sky Sports looks at the growing role that women are playing in the NFL.
At the start of the year, Sarah Thomas was appointed as a full-time official for this season. Although not the first female official, that honour goes to Shannon Eastin who was a replacement referee in 2012, Thomas is no stranger to breaking barriers in American football. She was the first woman to officiate in college football, as well as in a College Bowl game, in 2009.
It is also a ground-breaking year for Kathryn Smith, who was hired as Special Teams Quality Control coach with the Buffalo Bills, becoming the first full-time female coach in the NFL. It is Smith's 14th year in the league, having served as an intern and administrative assistant with the New York Jets and Bills, before being appointed as a coach in January.
The appointment came at the end of a season where Dr Jen Welter completed a pre-season internship at the Arizona Cardinals, coaching inside linebackers before the team went on to the NFC Championship game later that year. Welter is now a full time linebackers coach at the Dallas Revolution in the American Indoor League.
As the NFL continues to grow as America's most popular spectator sport, so too does the female viewership. In 2013, the NFL recognised that 45 per cent of its fan base was female, and the viewing figures for women had grown 26 per cent between 2009-2013.
"We believe we're a better organisation when we have diversity, and we're making progress on that front," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said following the NFL International series game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Indianapolis Colts.
"We're seeing progress not only in coaching and officiating, but we now have four female physicians and six athletic trainers in roles with teams. But we always think we can do better, and I know we will continue to make progress because we will benefit from that diversity."
Sam Rapoport has also been brought in as the league's director of football development, and has plans in place to support the role of women within teams, as coaches, officials, scouts and trainers as well as within the organisation's head office.
Carson Tinker, the Jacksonville Jaguars long snapper has spoken with Thomas at training camps, and believes that as a woman she has to go above and beyond to break the stigma of a 'man's world' surrounding the NFL.
"The NFL is definitely a man's world, so it's awesome to be able to come in and earn the respect that they have in the game.
"They have to work twice as hard, know and do twice as much to prove themselves so they're definitely deserving of their opportunity."
Sky Sports NFL expert Neil Reynolds praised the steps both Smith and Thomas are making in their respective fields.
"These two ladies are absolute ground-breakers and it's good because you don't get to the position that they're in without proving your worth, and this is a chance for others to follow their lead," he said.
"The NFL is big on production - it's what you bring to the table and both Smith and Thomas have shown that you don't get to that point by accident.
"Chatting with Sarah at the Jaguars mini-camp, she explained how much any official has to do to reach the NFL. She doesn't do interviews because officials don't do that, and it's good that she isn't singled out. She wants to be treated like any other."
The NFL can sometimes appear like an old boys club, when the same coaches moves around the league taking their favourite coordinators and coaches with them, but Reynolds believes that the game is changing and doors are being opened.
"The perception from the outside is that it's a closed shop. That's why what Kathryn Smith is doing can be blazing a trail, and why not have more women coaching in the NFL.
"The only way now is for these role models to prove their ability at the highest level and if they can do that, then it will only create more opportunities for others."
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